


The Bad Dad Squad

by The_Escaped



Category: RWBY
Genre: Child Neglect, Companionable Snark, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Is this the only fic in this relationship category???, Kid Fic, Kid Mercury, Kid Weiss, Possibly pre-cold feet/daddy issues, Very AU, guess I'll make my own, just two kids with shitty role models who are bad at making friends, the kids aren't alright, whatever this godforsaken ship is called
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 14:47:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18368213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Escaped/pseuds/The_Escaped
Summary: They had to make an odd picture, whispered Weiss’s mind, the thought nearly blurred by the static, two children being held in place in front of their parents, neither of them wanting to be there.“My boy, Mercury,” said Mr. Black, pushing him forward another step, “He’ll be guarding you.”//Weiss acquires a bodyguard as a child. Mercury's father acquires a job. Absolutely no one is happy with the situation.





	The Bad Dad Squad

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope that I have the momentum to finish this story, I usually want to write more before I post anything but the follow up for Brawl in the Family is taking SO LONG and I want to publish something in the meantime. Fair warning, I edited and published this at like 2am, so judge it kindly please!
> 
> I hope you like it!

Weiss was in bed. She was in bed a lot these days. Since the attack. It was boring, and she felt awful and restless, but she couldn’t make herself get up either. Every time she even thought about it, her mind started fading into grey static, and exhaustion sank into her bones. So she just kept laying there, staring at the canopy over her bed.

The doctor came once a week. It was Klein who came every day, who brought her food and made her sit up so he could change the bandages and cleaned the room, even though nothing had been moved since the last time he’d come in. He talked to her while he bustled around, the noises filtering in and out of Weiss’s ears. Most times she could understand them. Sometimes it was easier to just let them pass over her without trying.

But this time the door opened early, and it wasn’t Klein’s voice.

“This is Weiss’s roo-Weiss. Get up.”

Weiss dragged herself up so she was sitting. It took longer than it should have; she had to anchor herself in the blankets so that she wouldn’t fall off the edge.

The doctor said her balance was off because the injury and the bandages surrounded her eye. She would be dizzy for a while, he said. It might cause some problems with her vision.

In the hall, where he thought she couldn’t hear him, the doctor had told Klein that he wasn’t sure they would be able to save the eye.

“Father?”

Father hadn’t come to visit her since the day of the attack. Mother had, but she’d been very drunk and wailed about the damage until Klein got her to leave. Weiss hoped that she wouldn’t come again.

But Father was here now, and he didn’t look happy.

“Are you still in bed?” he asked incredulously. Weiss stared at him blankly, static still buzzing at the edges of her mind.

It was then that she realized there was another man behind her father.

Weiss yanked the covers up over her pajamas.

The man had hair such a pale grey it was almost white. He hadn’t shaved. A scar intersected his eyebrow. He smelled like Mother.

He _moved_ like Winter, like the soldiers her sister worked with in the Atlesian army, all muscle and power in every step. Was he some kind of fighter?

Winter had been trying to train Weiss how to walk like that when she visited. She said it would help Weiss when she applied to Atlas Academy become a Huntress.

…Would she still think Weiss could-

“So this must be the little princess,” the strange man said with a smile that looked like it didn’t belong on his face. He had the coldest eyes Weiss had ever seen.

“Hm.” Father had reached the bed by now, and he wasn’t smiling. Instead he wore a frown that deepened the the longer he looked at her.  “All you’ve done for weeks now is lie in bed. There’s no reason for you to be tired now.”

There was no reason for her to be tired. That didn’t mean she wasn’t. Weiss was so tired and her face hurt and her head was full of falling snow.

But Father’s hand was on her shoulder, tugging her out of bed and steering her to face the stranger. And it wouldn’t do to cause a scene in front of anyone, even someone who looked as out of place in the Schnee manor as this man. Father would only be angry about it.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Weiss said, even though she had a feeling it wasn’t. He stuck out a hand, and after a pause she remembered to shake it. His hand was rough, and she could see more scars on the knuckles. Weiss stared at them.

“In light of the misfortune recently, I’ve decided that it would be prudent for our family to take on some additional security measures,” Father said. “There have been a few changes that I feel it’s time for you to be aware of.” That was a rebuke Weiss didn’t need him to clarify. He was angry that she’d stayed holed up in her room this long.

His hand was still on her shoulder. Weiss tried not to bring attention to it; if he realized he might let go.

“What kinds of changes?” she asked instead.

“In addition to more cameras and alarms, I’ve hired bodyguards for the family. They’ll accompany us throughout the day in case any other faunus get any ideas from the recent…unpleasantness. This is Marcus Black.”

Weiss’s eye hurt. She glanced at the man again, at the out-of-place smile that didn’t reach his eyes. She wished she could hide behind Father without him getting mad about it.

“He’s going to watch me?” she said uneasily.

Father coughed delicately.

“No. Mr. Black will accompany me as I oversee the company. His son will be guarding you.”

Weiss blinked stupidly, knowing that she looked like a simpleton but not understanding.

Then she looked past the man, and just above her eye level there was another shock of pale hair poking out from behind Marcus Black, another set of pale, colorless eyes watching her.

The man reached behind him and dragged the boy out from behind him, forcing him forward and into Weiss’s personal space.

They had to make an odd picture, whispered Weiss’s mind, the thought nearly blurred by the static, two children being held in place in front of their parents, neither of them wanting to be there.

“My boy, Mercury,” said Mr. Black, pushing him forward another step, “He’ll be guarding you.”

A boy who couldn’t be much older than she was slouched under his hand, hands shoved into his pockets and a scowl twisting his face.

 “He looks young,” commented Father.

He looked about her age, and only a few inches taller. Weiss didn’t say anything. Father didn’t want her to speak right now, she was sure of that. Instead, she stared at Marcus Black’s hand on his son’s shoulder, the way his knuckles shone white against the dark jacket.

“He’s well trained. He’ll be more than capable of keeping your daughter safe.”

The boy looked Weiss over just as she did the same to him. He didn’t look impressed.

Weiss lifted her chin. Neither was Weiss.

 

//

 

Father left to talk to Klein about the accommodations that would have to be made for the guards that would be living in their house.

“I don’t want him here,” she said once Mr. Black and his son shuffled into another room to give them some privacy.

Privacy. That was going to be something in short supply after this.

“Measures have to be taken to prevent anything like this happening again,” he told her flatly, “This isn’t up for debate.”

“I don’t _need_ him here,” she insisted, “If I had more time to train with my Aura…”

“Not this again!” Father snapped, and Weiss swallowed the rest of her words. “Not now, Weiss!”

She looked down. When she looked back up, Father was rubbing his face. Her stomach twisted with guilt.

“We’ll discuss this later,” he told her, with a warning note of finality, “When you’ve had more of a chance to recover. For now, Mr. Black’s son will stay at your side and make sure you’re protected. That’s the end of it.”

Weiss’s gaze was drawn to the space next to his shoes. This whole thing was her fault in the first place. If she hadn’t been so stupid, so _weak_ , none of this would have happened in the first place and Father never would have had to hire bodyguards at all.

“I don’t want to hear that you’ve gone back to lying in bed after this,” he said finally.

This whole thing was her fault. She had no one to blame but herself.

 “Weiss. Are you listening to me?”

He gripped her chin and tilted her head up and the static in Weiss’s mind burst into blinding white light.

The faunus had grabbed her chin and tilted her head up, and all Weiss had been able to see was slitted reptilian eyes. When he saw how scared she was he’d laughed. Then everything had hurt and she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t see-

Weiss blinked and her vision was clear, not full of red. There were fingers against her chin, not claws, the nails blunt, not biting. Her lungs expanded, filling with air again. She could breathe.

Father was still talking, the words sliding in and out of her head like a radio with no signal. It didn’t really matter if she couldn’t understand them. Father didn’t want to know what she really felt. There was only one answer that Father expected, and Weiss was too tired to bother trying anything else anyway.

“I’ll do better, Father.”

He stopped talking abruptly, looking her over. Weiss noticed how his eyes lingered on her left side, on the bandages there, but she didn’t feel as hurt as one might expect. She didn’t feel much of anything, besides tired.

“Good. I’ll tell your teachers to prepare to resume lessons in the next few days.” He hesitated, then patted her on the shoulder. “You’re a bright girl. I can’t imagine you’ve fallen far behind.”

For a second, the fog around her receded, burned away by bright, sharp joy. Father’s compliments were rare, something to be treasured.

Then he was moving off, hand dropping away from her shoulder again. Weiss’s mouth opened, but she controlled herself before she made a sound. Father had a lot of work to do, more than ever since the attack. He couldn’t afford to waste time keeping her company. Weiss was a young lady now. She could handle herself properly.

So instead of asking him for more of his valuable time like a _baby_ , Weiss folded her hands in front of her and tried to stand up straighter.

“Goodbye, Father.”

He was already at the door. He didn’t look back.

“Goodbye.”

Weiss stared at the empty doorway. Her hands were frozen, clasped neatly in front of her. Static buzzed just on the edges of her mind, but Father had told her not to laze around in bed any longer and she’d promised him she wouldn’t. A Schnee was supposed to stand by their word; that was why Father gave his so little.

He’d left the door ajar. It was still dark in the hallway. Weiss couldn’t see out further than a few feet.

Twisted together, her fingers began to tremble.

This was why Father had hired bodyguards, she reminded herself. Because she was being too emotional and silly about the whole event. She was inside her own house. There were guards posted outside. There were two in the _hallway_. No one would come and attack the Schnee family home, not with the protections on it. She was safe here. She was being _childish_.

The bandages felt oppressive against her face.

It was just an open door. She could close it herself.

She edged closer warily.

It was only when she’d curled her fingers around the door that she heard the voices in the hallway. Her heart skipped a beat, but then she placed the rough, deep voice with Father’s new bodyguard. He’d stepped out into the hall with his son before. Of course they were still there. It was nothing to be alarmed about.

“Don’t fuck this up.”

Weiss paused.

“I won’t.”

She took a deep breath and then chanced a look through into the hallway.

Her new bodyguard, Mercury Black, was standing a little bit away from the wall, hands still jammed down into his pockets. His slouch was even more pronounced than it had been before, shoulders jutting out around his ears. His father loomed over him.

“I mean it, boy. You keep the little heiress in your sights at all times.”

“I _know_. You’re the one who trained me aren’t you? What, do you think you didn’t do a good enough job?”

Weiss blinked and his father’s hand had shot out, forcing his chin up. Weiss’s breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t even seen him _move_.

“Don’t test me. Schnee is paying us more than we’d make in a year to guard him and his whelps. A hair on the girl’s head is disturbed, I’m going to take it out on your hide. Do you understand?”

Mercury glared up at him. His hands had leapt out of his pockets when his father moved. They were curled into fists at his sides.

“…yes, _sir_.”

There was a pause, with Marcus Black looking over his son with a severe frown. Finally he scoffed, a low sound in the back of his throat, and shoved him away. The boy backed up one step but no more, hands still in fists.

“Get to it then.”

Weiss shoved herself away from the door and back over to her desk before they looked over and caught her eavesdropping. She had just enough time to throw herself into her chair before the door swept open again.

Mercury Black looked her up and down, making the action look just as scornful as his father had a moment ago.

“Aren’t you scared of people kidnapping you or something?” he wanted to know, so rude and blunt that Weiss temporarily forgot to how to breathe, “Shouldn’t you be locking the door?”

Weiss gasped, furious.

“Isn’t that what you’re for?” she demanded sharply, once she’d remembered how to speak, “And I’m not scared.” She wasn’t scared. There was nothing to be scared of. It was over now.

“Tch.” He folded his arms. He looked…scruffy was the only word Weiss could think of to describe it. There was a long tear in the elbow of his jacket, and his clothing was worn. There was a bruise at the corner of his mouth.

In short, he couldn’t have looked more out of place in the Schnee Manor if he’d tried it deliberately.

“If you aren’t scared, then what am I here for?”

Weiss scowled. He scowled back. She wasn’t scared. She could take care of herself.

And the sooner she was able to prove that to Father, the sooner she would get this uncouth, terribly rude boy out of her life again.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure where Weiss's scar comes from, online it says that it was already there before the White Trailer and I decided to run with that. She got it before that in this AU, at any rate. 
> 
> I might keep this as a drabble, but I do have some ideas for where it goes. I'm really excited to share it with you! Please let me know what you think in the comments, or on tumblr at shitlinguistssay.tumblr.com!


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